I finally dove into my rear axle. its been sitting there for 3 weeks starring at me, so ive had enough. Going to get it fully rebuilt, with everything except the gears. then it will be one of the last parts to go in the truck, that ill do over a weekend mid april-may.

Old guts out, gears are coming out and the carrier is getting the lock right before it goes back in place.

the housing is being stripped (at the cost of coating my shop in dust) and painted before it goes back in. new brakes, most likely new hardware and new e-brake cables.

Im going to spend tomorrow finishing the job, I hope to have a coat of paint on it next week.

After playing around with rear shock designs, I feel good about the latest decision. With no knowlege of deavers, how the sit or the lengths im looking at when i run the spring, i was at a loss to find travel numbers and shock lengths. everybody said go for a 16" smooth body through the bed to a bed cage. While this sounds great and all, i enjoy a sealed bed, am ordering flat top bedsides for the reason of keeping my tonneau cover, and keeping it dry when i have things that dont fit in the cab. A few weeks ago i was playing with the idea of going for a link setup, and what you'd call a mini link with nothing more then small shock hoops.

So how do I keep the bed space, keep it sealed, strong, and run a shock that can keep up with a F31 leaf capable of 16" travel? the same way i was going to link the truck!

The main bar would run from each bedside through and into the bed. the mounts would be just like the picture below, BUT everything will be between the bed and bedside. The shock will then run down and mount to the leaf spring plate. limit straps will be in place near the shocks also.

it kind of came to me like a slap in the face. no idea why i didnt think of it earlier, but when done right means i keep my bed-tent, all bed space, a water tight area and best of all, get the shocks i want. Fell free to let me know what you think of this.

My optima battery will also be going to the right side of my bed mounted off this cage againts the bed wall. Plates that bolt to the frame will be the outer supports so it may be removed in one piece to access the tank or anything under neath. It SHOULD also act as a frame reinforcement.

did you run into any issues moving the hangers forward on the 64 swap? heard you run into a body mount on the ext cabs.

nope no issues with it. i think that issue is with reg cabs. You just make the front holes line up with the read. you'll need 12 bolts to keep everything together. also you need to make a e-brake bracket.